[etni] Re: Hebrew in the English classroom
- From: "Harvith" <lharvith@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2004 21:04:57 +0200
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"And if we thought that they had already
acquired the language well as native English speakers - why continue to
teach them English? " David Lloyd
I'm shocked that you could ask such a question. Why do English speakers in
England or the United States continue learning English after kindergarden?
This just reinforces my contention that there is a word of difference
between English and EFL and that a qualified native English speaking teacher
is the only one qualified to teach Native Speaker classes.
Lisa Harvith
----- Original Message -----
From: "David Lloyd" <david@xxxxxxxx>
To: <etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, August 14, 2004 11:07 AM
Subject: [etni] Hebrew in the English classroom
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>
> Hi all,
>
> In an old ETNI poll, we asked -
> "Should English teachers use Hebrew in the English classroom?"
> The voting broke down, as follows:
> 57% - Yes, but only for clarification (all levels/ages).
> 19% - Yes, but only for clarification (weaker/beginning levels.
> 13% - Yes, whenever they want to.
> 7% - No, they should use only English at all times.
> 4% - Yes, but only for beginning learners.
>
> What we didn't clarify here, was whether teachers felt Hebrew was needed
to
> explain "forms" in the target language (English) by comparing them to
forms
> in the student's native language (Hebrew).
> How many of you think that English can be taught more effectively if the
> teacher relates to similar constructions or similar instances of usage in
> Hebrew?
>
> And I feel that this is a valid question for the "Native English Speaker"
> classroom as well.
>
> Which brings me to my second question.
> Is there such a thing as a "Native English Speaker" in the Israel
> educational climate?
>
> The huge majority of students in "native English speaker classes" - even
if
> they come from English speaking families - consider Hebrew as their "first
> language" - the one that they use most in their "natural environment"
> (outside of immediate family, if used there). Do we really believe that
> their further acquisition/learning of the English language is not affected
> in many ways by the Hebrew that they speak and are exposed to? They are no
> longer acquiring English in a "natural environment" (no matter how much we
> try to create a real isolated English learning environment in an otherwise
> totally Hebrew speaking school). And if we thought that they had already
> acquired the language well as native English speakers - why continue to
> teach them English? Many teachers of Native English Speaker classes will
> admit that some of their best students had little exposure to a real
English
> speaking environment - outside of a family slihut here and there. The
> students with the most problems are those who were exposed most to English
> speaking environments in their early years (born and raised for much of
> their life in an English speaking country). When brought to Israel, their
> "acquisition" of the English language was cut short - and they then had to
> switch from "acquisition" to "learning" the language.
>
> This - and here I may really may be getting into hot water - relates back
to
> the - "Who makes the best teacher of a "Native English Speaker" class?:
> 1) The teacher, who is a native English speaker him/herself - despite
> his/her own linguistic competence in Hebrew?
> 2) or the teacher who has a high linguistic competence both in English and
> Hebrew, no matter whether they are a native English or Hebrew speaker.
>
> Will be interested in hearing your comments to any or all of the above.
>
> David
>
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